Pink is high among the most powerful courtroom drama movies that I have seen including British and Hollywood films. I have written about other Indian films that are changing how Indian movie makers are changing and this is another instance of such a change. I am delighted that Indian movie producers are now willing to address serious social issues while keeping the commercial aspects in view as well. The issues raised are not only India specific as the gender issues are universal. It is so pleasing to see no song and dance routines and idiotic and irrelevant foreign locales.
Pink’s story is powerful because it projects reality without holding anything back and the direction is faultless. The background information is not shown till the titles start to roll at the end, but for all that, the presentation is excellent. The viewers are kept glued to their seats without losing interest even for a moment.
While Amitabh Bachchan‘s performance can be justified due to his seniority in the trade, the three female leads, all new to me, and the young male characters, produce amazing performances. There is hope yet for the future of Indian films if such talent can be found and nurtured. The deliberate bringing together of girls from Delhi, Meghalaya and a Muslim is a very thoughtful idea to showcase reality and the producer must be complimented for that.
I was particularly impressed with one of the accused asking the cross examining lawyer “do you know who you are talking to?”, such a typically Delhi bravado, and in a different scene, his powerful politician uncle asking him to grow up and leave the trash behind.
I give it a five out of five rating and highly recommend viewing it to my readers.
PS. The residential colony that features prominently in the film is Sarva Priya Vihar where, we had lived between 1980 and 1983 when it was relatively new. I had gone there for old time’s sake two years ago and saw the house where we lived from the outside.
